KARACHI, April 29: Arrangements have been completed to hold the presidential referendum on Tuesday throughout Sindh.

About 21,198 polling stations, with 44,166 polling booths, have been set up all over the province.

A senior officer of the Pakistan Election Commission, Sindh, told APP that 109,530-strong election staff, which included presiding, assistant presiding and polling officers, had been deployed at polling stations. In addition, 42,396 polling assistants (volunteers) would also be deployed at all polling stations to assist voters.

He said employees of federal and provincial governments, autonomous bodies, schools and nationalized banks had been trained to perform duties at polling stations.

In Karachi, 7,651 polling stations had been set up with 15,302 booths. Of them, 1,909 polling stations are in former district East, 1,672 in former district West, 1,566 in former district Central, 1,518 in former district South and 986 in former district Malir.

“The necessary material has been provided to the presiding officers, and ballot papers will reach polling stations on the morning of April 30,” the officer said.

In Sindh, there are more than 14 million registered voters, whereas 4.5m voters are enrolled in Karachi.

The officer said an additional 7,500 polling stations had been set up in view of an increase in the number of voters due to relaxation in age limit.

About 15,112 polling stations had been set up in buildings, and 6,086 poll-ing stations would be in improvised places.

He said offices with a staff strength of 500 and above would have polling stations to facilitate their employees to cast vote. These included banks’ head offices, bus stands, courts, railway stations, airports, PIA head office, the Central Prison, Landhi Prison, etc.

Polling will begin at 9am and continue till 7pm.

At least 15,112 commercial buildings will be used as polling stations all over Sindh to facilitate office-goers to cast their vote in the referendum.

According to the Sindh Election Commission, ballot boxes have been dispatched for placement at 11,131 buildings in the interior of Sindh and 3,981 buildings in Karachi.

The buildings have been defined as banks, major shopping and trade centres, autonomous and semi-autonomous government offices and private-sector buildings.

“It is meant for those who will be going to their offices on Tuesday,” an official of the EC told APP.

The government has already declared Referendum Day a normal working day.

The breakup of figures for Karachi showed that 1,379 buildings in district West, 544 in Central, 334 in South, 1087 in East and 637 in Malir would be used as polling stations.

Six polling stations had been set up at the general post offices in the city for the referendum, an official of the Pakistan Post Office, Karachi, said.

He said there would be one polling station each in the six GPOs in the city: the main GPO on I. I. Chundrigar Road, Saddar, City, New Town, Al-Haideri and Korangi.

There would be two polling booths at each of the polling station.

The Sindh government has announced that five polling stations have been set up in the secretariat buildings.

OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS: Overseas Pakistanis will also participate in the presidential referendum by casting their votes in embassies.